Choosing a Lens

argyle409

My friend is going off to college to major in photography, so graduation present I thought I'd buy her some kind of lens for her camera. I finally decided to buy her a 15mm fisheye lens and then when I was talking to her week ago and she told me her parents bought her a fisheye for her gift. So I returned the lens and now I don't know what to get her, she wants a tilt-shift lens too, but I don't have that much money to spend on her.

So what would you guys recommend me to get her since I don't know that much about lens specially since she been doing it for couple years and I got got a dslr week ago. She doesn't really do action shots more landscapes, people, and artsy heres her flickr if that helps too recommend me a lens for her. Thanks

EDIT: Forgot to ad she has a Nikon D40 with a NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II

ziggy53

argyle409 wrote:

My friend is going off to college to major in photography, so graduation present I thought I'd buy her some kind of lens for her camera. I finally decided to buy her a 15mm fisheye lens and then when I was talking to her week ago and she told me her parents bought her a fisheye for her gift, fvck! So I returned the lens and now I don't know what to get her, she wants a tilt-shift lens too, but I don't have that much money to spend on her.

So what would you guys recommend me to get her since I don't know that much about lens specially since she been doing it for couple years and I got got a dslr week ago. She doesn't really do action shots more stills and artsy shots, heres her flickr if that helps too recommend me a lens for her. Thanks

Argyle409, welcome to the Digital Grin.

We need the basics. What does she have now? Camera? Lenses?

What does "stills and artsy shots" mean?

The more you can explain the current situation the more we can help.

Art Scott

argyle409 wrote:

My friend is going off to college to major in photography, so graduation present I thought I'd buy her some kind of lens for her camera. I finally decided to buy her a 15mm fisheye lens and then when I was talking to her week ago and she told me her parents bought her a fisheye for her gift, fvck! So I returned the lens and now I don't know what to get her, she wants a tilt-shift lens too, but I don't have that much money to spend on her.

So what would you guys recommend me to get her since I don't know that much about lens specially since she been doing it for couple years and I got got a dslr week ago. She doesn't really do action shots more stills and artsy shots, heres her flickr if that helps too recommend me a lens for her. Thanks

Check out the Kiev T/S.......manual but very nice glass......how about a nice macro........

As Ziggy pointed out it would be much easier if we knew what she already had...........

argyle409

ziggy53 wrote:

Argyle409, welcome to the Digital Grin.

We need the basics. What does she have now? Camera? Lenses?

What does "stills and artsy shots" mean?

The more you can explain the current situation the more we can help.

Thanks for the welcome.

She has a Nikon D40 with a NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II

Well I don't know exactly how to label her work since its hers, so if you look at her flickr page maybe you can determine it better since I just got a canon rebel a week ago and not that into it just yet. And I don't how to explain artsy, stills I mean to say landscape and cityskapes.

Cygnus Studios

What about a Lensbaby? They take some getting used to, but definitely creative and pretty affordable.

ziggy53

argyle409 wrote:

Thanks for the welcome.

She has a Nikon D40 with a NIKKOR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II

Well I don't know exactly how to label her work since its hers, so if you look at her flickr page maybe you can determine it better since I just got a canon rebel a week ago and not that into it just yet. And I don't how to explain artsy, stills I mean to say landscape and cityskapes.

She would probably realize a considerable improvement in image quality with a better zoom lens. The Tamron 17-50mm, f/2.8 XR Di II is a pretty god replacement for the kit lens allowing better overall image quality and better control over DOF.

Going wider is another possibility. Any of the following might be a consideration (although somewhat pricier than the Tamron above):

Sigma 10-20mm, f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM
Tokina 12-24mm, f/4 PRO DX
Tokina AT-X 11-16mm, f2.8 PRO DX
Tamron SP 11-18mm, f4.5-f5.6 Di-II LD Aspherical [IF]
Tamron SP 10-24mm, f3.5-f4.5 Di-II LD Aspherical [IF]

I believe that the Sigma will AF on her camera but I am not sure about the others.

Qarik

what is you budget?

a 50mm 1.4 or 1.8 is a great addition for anyone.

argyle409

Qarik wrote:

what is you budget?

a 50mm 1.4 or 1.8 is a great addition for anyone.

I'd like to stay below $500 if possilbe but prefer $300.

so I have been told that a 50mm 1.4 is a standard lens for someone going into photography, I have no idea wtf 1.4 stand for all I know its more expensive then the 1.8 haha.

I took 3 lens already into consideration due to reviews and what other people have told me to think about. The new 35mm seems to have hate on it for some reason, and the 50mm seems to be a standard for people, while the wide angle 35mm may be too much over lad with the fisheye she is getting.

Nikon 50mm F1.4 D Lens

AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G

AF NIKKOR 35mm f/2D

Jane B.

Qarik wrote:

what is you budget?

a 50mm 1.4 or 1.8 is a great addition for anyone.

I beg to differ! I do own a couple of 55mm that I got wayyy back when I first shot a slr that takes the m42 screw mount but even when I got my first EOS film camera in 1988 I went with the 28-70. If someone gave me a fixed focal length 50mm I would immediately be wanting to exchange it. My latest lens purchase was the Tamron 17-50 in the Canon flavor.

Lens choice is soooo personal that I feel that a gift certificate from a trusted source (such as B & H) would be a better choice. It could then be applied to what the recipiant really wants; maybe by combining with funds from another source to get something more expensive.

Jane B.

Robinivich

argyle409 wrote:

I took 3 lens already into consideration due to reviews and what other people have told me to think about. The new 35mm seems to have hate on it for some reason, and the 50mm seems to be a standard for people, while the wide angle 35mm may be too much over lad with the fisheye she is getting.

What's complicated here is that a D40 changes the effective field of view of the lenses used on it, because it's sensor is smaller than 135 film, so the 35mm would act like a 50mm on film, thus, as a "standard" lens.

I would vote for the 35 f1.8 DX. This has the "classic" perspective of a standard lens on her camera, it will also autofocus nicely on her camera, unlike quite a few alternatives, and it won't break the bank.

If not this, I would say a lensbaby, as Cygnus studios suggested, would be awesome.

Also certainly consider a manual focus tilt-shift as Art suggested, though this one would require some adjusting on her part!

:edit:

Jane B. also makes a good point about how personal this is, though I'd be pretty confident that a standard at least would be desired.

argyle409

Robinivich wrote:

What's complicated here is that a D40 changes the effective field of view of the lenses used on it, because it's sensor is smaller than 135 film, so the 35mm would act like a 50mm on film, thus, as a "standard" lens.

I would vote for the 35 f1.8 DX. This has the "classic" perspective of a standard lens on her camera, it will also autofocus nicely on her camera, unlike quite a few alternatives, and it won't break the bank.

If not this, I would say a lensbaby, as Cygnus studios suggested, would be awesome.

Also certainly consider a manual focus tilt-shift as Art suggested, though this one would require some adjusting on her part!

:edit:

Jane B. also makes a good point about how personal this is, though I'd be pretty confident that a standard at least would be desired.

I don't understand the lensbaby?

and a tilt shift is really expensive

Robinivich

http://lensbaby.com/

These are selective focus lenses that allow you to move the sharpest area of the image around, allowing creative effects.

As for the tilt shift, you don't need to buy the newest lenses that nikon just released, they're manual focus anyways, so you have the option to look at vast numbers of older used lenses, or even those made by hartblei, or kiev, a couple of oddball 3rd parties. All of these options are cheaper than than the new nikons by a large margin. Of course, I'm starting to be reminded more and more that this is a personnal choice, to use bizarre manual focus lenses, and it's harder to get excited about a bizarre lens with a strange name, or one that's 20 years old, than a new shiny one.

I'd have to say my vote remains with the DX 35mm, and a gift certificate if you're really not sure.

argyle409

I have run into one problem everywhere that I look to buy a
AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4G

or

AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G


they are backordered, are they like not on the market yet or just super popular and hard to find?

Also I was wondering if the crop factor with the D40 effects the 15mm fisheye she will be getting from her parents, if so will the image just look like a normal shot with out the circular curves around the image. If this is the case would buying a D80 or D90 body for her instead would that solve the crop factor or no?

Robinivich

argyle409 wrote:

I have run into one problem everywhere that I look to buy a
AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4G

or

AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G


they are backordered, are they like not on the market yet or just super popular and hard to find?

Also I was wondering if the crop factor with the D40 effects the 15mm fisheye she will be getting from her parents, if so will the image just look like a normal shot with out the circular curves around the image. If this is the case would buying a D80 or D90 body for her instead would that solve the crop factor or no?

I've never spent any time shopping for Nikon lenses, but it doesn't sound that unlikely that this is a supply problem on Nikon's end. I'd just say shop around, or phone and ask if and when stores expect to get stock in. Fingers crossed you'll find someone who can help you out.

As for the fisheye, yes, a 15mm fisheye is not going to be as wide as originally intended on a D40, giving 120 degrees diagonal field of view as opposed to 180. It will still give a fisheye effect, just not as pronounced. Unfortunately one would have to upgrade to the D700 to change sensor size, which would be far too expensive for your budget. If it's not too late, the DX 10.5mm fisheye is designed to behave in the classic way. For an idea of what a 15mm fisheye will look like on a crop camera, check out http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/150-canon-ef-15mm-f28-fisheye-test-report--review?start=1

This is a canon lens but you'll get the idea.

Art Scott

argyle409 wrote:

a tilt shift is really expensive

If you look into the Kiev and Hartblei's from the Ukraine they are not that expensive and the glass is made to Carl Zeiss specs....so the lenses are cheaper and very good........

hnjngo

The lensbabies should be a great toy, it takes a little to learn how to use it effectively but when she does it can produce great creative pictures.

time2smile

argyle409 wrote:

I have run into one problem everywhere that I look to buy a
AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.4G

or

AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G

they are backordered, are they like not on the market yet or just super popular and hard to find?
quote]

Both lenses for the D40 are new with built in motors, backorders are expected with these long awaited products...:cry